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The Sign ☮' the Times Tour was a short European only tour by Prince. It was the first tour after the split with The Revolution. As Prince's record sales were doing better in the European market than at home in the United States, Prince chose not to continue the tour into the U.S. after the European tour, as he was ready to get back into the studio and start a new project.

The Sign ☮' the Times Tour marks the debut of Prince's newest band, called the "Lovesexy Band" by most long-time Prince fans.

History

The Sign ☮' the Times Tour marked a huge transition period in the career of Prince. Gone were the Revolution, in particular long-time band members Brown Mark, Lisa Coleman, Wendy Melvoin and Bobby Z. who was there from the start in 1978. The only holdovers from the "Counter-Revolution" line-up were Miko Weaver, Eric Leeds, Atlanta Bliss, and long-time keyboardist Doctor Fink. Sheila E., who Prince had been using in studio, took over on drums, while another session player, Levi Seacer, Jr., who had been playing in Sheila E.'s band and was often used in studio with Prince, was added on bass. Boni Boyer was brought on board to play keyboard and organs and the Star Search phenom Cat Glover rounded out the group as choreographer, dancer, and backing vocals.

Warner Bros. and Prince's managers wanted a longer world tour to promote the album in United States and Japan, however Prince felt a need to tour Europe only, where his past three albums, along with this one, performed better in Europe than in the U.S., and by the time he was finished with his European concert dates, was ready to move on from Sign ☮' the Times and record new material. He later compromised by filming some of the shows for a concert film release. However, the film quality of the recorded shows was too grainy and Prince was forced to re-shoot most of the concerts in a sound stage at Paisley Park, lip-syncing most of the songs.

The band

• Prince: Lead vocals, Piano, and Guitar
• Miko Weaver: Guitar
• Levi Seacer, Jr.: Bass
• Matt Fink: Keyboards
• Boni Boyer: Keyboards, Organ, and Vocals
• Sheila E.: Drums, Percussion, and Vocals
• Eric Leeds: Saxophone
• Atlanta Bliss: Trumpet
• Cat, Wally Safford and Greg Brooks: Dancers and Vocals

Jerome Benton started on tour and performed on early shows of the tour, but didn’t finish and eventually left the band.

Typical set list

1. "Sign "☮" the Times"
2. "Play in the Sunshine"
3. "Little Red Corvette"
4. "Housequake"
5. "Girls & Boys"
6. "Slow Love"
7. "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (Intro)
8. "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (Includes "Rockhard in a Funky Place" horn interpolation)
9. "Hot Thing"
10. Drum solo coda: "Now's the Time" (Charlie Parker cover)
11. "If I Was Your Girlfriend"
12. "Let's Go Crazy"
13. "When Doves Cry" (Includes "La, La, La, He, He, Hee" interpolation)
14. "Purple Rain"
15. "1999"

Encore

1. "Forever in My Life"
2. "Kiss"
3. "The Cross"

Encore 2

1. "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night" (Includes "Take the "A" Train", "Six", "Housequake" and "♥ or $" interpolations)

• Prince (musician) concert tours